


Hide & Seek

by Georcunian



Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout 4
Genre: Angst, Bisexual Male Character, Bisexuality, Blood and Violence, Deviates From Canon, Deviates to varying degrees with some dialogue and scenes that occur in the game, Drama, Eventual Romance, LGBTQ Character, M/M, Original Character(s), POV Third Person, Romance, Slow Build, Slow Burn, Slow Romance, Will expand character and tag list as this proceeds
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-17
Updated: 2020-07-13
Packaged: 2021-03-03 22:36:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,665
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24763222
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Georcunian/pseuds/Georcunian
Summary: Thrown into a world he never could have imagined, Paul must navigate the dangers of the Commonwealth and keep himself alive despite all that seeks to kill him.However, even after over 200 years the ghosts of his past still echo throughout the Commonwealth, and Paul finds himself facing the reality that in order to survive he must face his deepest demons once and for all.
Relationships: Paladin Danse/Male Sole Survivor
Kudos: 3





	1. October 23rd

**Author's Note:**

> This is only Chapter 1. Many of the characters and tags on this will appear or become apparent in future chapters. 
> 
> This chapter deals with the day that the bombs fell and Paul, our protagonist first descended into Vault 111. 
> 
> Any feedback is welcome! 
> 
> Also, thank you for reading!

October 23rd 2077: 

The sun woke Paul up that day, its beams peeking through the heavy curtains in his and Nora’s bedroom and directly onto Paul’s side of the Bed. He quietly lifted himself out of bed, being careful not to wake his wife up as he did, carefully dressing himself and tiptoeing out of the room and into the bathroom. As he stood in front of the mirror brushing his teeth he began to think about what was to happen during the day ahead, the primary focus of which was his speech at the Veterans Hall in Cambridge that night.

Paul still didn’t quite understand why he had been picked to do this speech; he had never been the best member of his squadron, nor was he the best speech maker among them, that accolade likely going to one of his other squadron members. If he was still alive though the accolade would, without a doubt, have gone to his former squad-mate and close friend John.

He had stayed up well into the early hours over the previous few nights attempting to write his speech, often scrapping everything he had written feeling that the words didn’t do justice to the bravery and sacrifices that his fellow men in arms, both dead and alive, had made during the Alaska Campaign. Nora had tried to encourage and reassure him that whatever he wrote, as long as he was honest and spoke his truth, would be good enough for every soldier in the nation to hear and be proud of. That was the thing about Nora, she could always find a way to calm Paul down when he began to over think things and work himself up; she was the voice of calm and reason in the household, Paul couldn’t quite believe that he had somehow managed before without her. In the end at 11pm the previous night Paul had finally completed a speech he was happy to present to his fellow veterans. He was looking forward to seeing his old friends once again; it had been nearly 10 months after all, many of them were coming from all over New England and further afield, with some driving up from as far as D.C. just for the occasion. He only wished his fallen brothers like John could be there too. All this said he wasn’t looking forward to meeting Major Jones again who had taken a particular dislike to Paul during his time in service, nor was he looking forward to having to don his scratchy, uncomfortable military uniform again, an item of clothing in which Paul had never wished to wear again.

As Paul reminisced on the past two years and his time in the Armed Forces and the state of the world since the atomic bombs had dropped at the end of the Second World War, he found himself repeating a phrase that had been drilled into him during his time in Alaska,

“War never changes”.

Just as he said this a voice came from behind proclaiming,

“You’re going to knock ‘em dead at the veteran’s hall tonight hun”,

The voice belonged to Nora, Paul, so caught up in his own thoughts hadn’t even heard her get up.

“You think?” he replied his instinctive self doubt momentarily coming out,

“Absolutely” she replied “now get ready and stop hogging the mirror”. 

He chuckled as he hurriedly finished brushing his teeth and headed out of the bathroom and into the kitchen and living room area where Codsworth was waiting to greet him.

Paul sipped on his coffee while settling himself into the couch, scanning his eyes over the day’s issue of The Bugle, nothing extraordinary he thought, just a regular day in world. He looked up from his newspaper and around the room, Nora was skimming through an old issue of Grognak the Barbarian he had left on the counter last night, the anchorman on the Television was recapping the weather for the day and Codsworth had gone to attend to his son Shaun who had just woken up. As he did this he heard the front door ring, this was unusual; he hadn’t been expecting anybody today let alone this early. 

“Can you get that” Nora called out to him, going on to explain that it was probably a salesman that had been calling after him; reluctantly Paul hauled himself up and went to answer the door.

After he closed the door Paul started to feel bad; he had been unnecessarily rude to the Vault Tec representative for coming unannounced to his front door, the man was perfectly friendly and as Nora had to remind him, it was all worth it for the safety of the three of them. Just as he was pondering this however Codsworth glided into the room declaring that Shaun needed some of his ‘paternal affection’ in order to calm down.

He wandered into Shaun’s room and over towards his crib, as he comforted his son he suddenly realized that this had been the first night since Shaun’s birth back in May in which he had been able to sleep though the night without Shaun’s cries prying him from his slumber; normally he would have to spent his early hours half asleep trying to find out what Shaun wanted or needed to settle him down. The experience, although initially a nasty shock to the system for Paul had gradually become the new normal, with him almost instinctively knowing when Shaun was about to wake up and cry by this point. All this said however the fact that Paul had managed to have a full night of sleep came as a pleasant surprise.

Shaun had been something of a miracle child, he and Nora had tried so many times to conceive without success that Paul had lost count. They had sunk thousands upon thousands of dollars into IVF and other means of artificial conception all with nothing to show of it at the end. The experience had left a traumatic mark on the both of them and had stretched the marriage to its limit, culminating in one evening, where in a fit of rage after a nasty argument with Nora, Paul signed himself up for another tour with the Armed Forces in an attempt to get away from her, an action he almost knew at the time he would come to regret later down the line. After a while they stopped trying, partially to save the relationship, and had resigned themselves to the fact that they were not going to be able to have a child, not unless they went the way of adoption, an option they couldn’t afford after having spent much of their spare money on artificial conception treatments. Then came that that fateful night in August of the previous year at the park down in Concord, where in the heat of the moment after one of their monthly date nights they risked intercourse behind a tall hedge. It was the best sex in Paul’s life, even better than on the night of his marriage. He didn’t bother to use a condom, not because he didn’t have one but because he knew there was no chance that Nora would end up pregnant; this would turn out to be one of the most incorrect judgments he had ever made in his life. 9 months later Shaun introduced himself to the world on the day of May 31st 2077, the best day of Paul’s life, beating out even his wedding day.

Of course Paul hadn’t been there to see much of the pregnancy, just days after that night in the park he was called up for active duty in Alaska, his moment of rage months previously coming back to bite him in the ass. From August to February all he had to know about how the baby was coming along was the occasional latter from Nora, often including a photograph of her developing baby bump. The fact that he couldn’t be there for her took its mental toll on Paul, exacerbating his feelings of doubt, making him feel that he may be an unworthy father to his future child and an unworthy husband to his wife. While in Alaska John would often try and comfort him, explaining to him that the fact he was defending his country, defending his family was the greatest show of worthiness that a person could make. John was like that, behind his tough and stoic initial appearances he was extremely caring and made sure his team were in high spirits, a kind of Nora away from Nora; it was probably why Paul instantly gravitated towards him during training, their friendship soon developing into one that normally takes years to develop. 

Thankfully Paul was home by the time of Shaun’s birth, and in the words of his wife was “overcompensating” in these early months in Shaun’s life, spending every opportunity to bond and care for him, even sometimes at the expense of Nora.

Just as he was pondering over how miraculous it was that Shaun even existed Paul heard Nora’s voice call over his shoulder,

“How are the two most important men in my life doing?”

“Just fine and dandy, aren’t we sport” he replied, glancing over to look at Shaun who had now stopped crying. 

He never knew how he was able to do that so well, make Shaun stop crying; Nora would always tease that he was Shaun’s favorite and would grow up to be a Daddy’s boy, but Paul would always brush it off and tell her that he loved them equally. That said, maybe Codsworth was onto something when he mentioned Paul’s ‘paternal affection‘.

“Spin the mobile a bit, he loves that” Nora said, pointing toward the little red rocketships that dangled above the crib.

As the rocketships spun around in circles, the sweet lullaby tinkering along as they did so, Paul could see Shaun starting to giggle. Almost nothing could make his heart swell more, even now months after Shaun’s birth; the feeling hadn’t lost any of its potency. He almost giggled back when Nora walked up to the side of the crib.

“Listen, after breakfast, I was thinking of going to the park for a bit. Weather should hold up.” 

“Will it be like that night in the park a year ago?” Paul replied, smirking widely. He knew it wouldn’t but it was always worth asking, even just to get a reaction out of her. 

Before Nora had the opportunity to respond however, they heard Codsworth shouting something from the living room. Nora ushered Paul to go and see what Codsworth was making all the noise about and reluctantly he walked down into the living room to work out why there was such a commotion.

The next couple of minutes were a long blur, Paul barely managing to make sense of the words coming from the Anchormans mouth, nuclear weapons? Detonations in New York and Pennsylvania? This wasn’t happening was it, it couldn’t be happening. Paul had fought so hard to prevent this, had fought so hard TWICE. His brothers and sisters in arms had given their lives to protect this nation and its people, yet here he was seeing all that sacrifice go to nothing almost in the blink of an eye. He started to think of the men on his squadron, were they all dead? Had they managed to reach safety? Before he could collect these thoughts in his head into a cohesive sting of information the connection to the TV news station severed, a loud static hiss filled the room.

“Oh my god” he heard his wife disbelievingly stammer, having walked into the room with Shaun in her arms shortly after himself. “We need to get to the vault. We need to get to it now!”

Paul barely had time to bid his farewells to Codsworth before he had to leave his home and all his possessions for the last time ever. A million thoughts were spiraling in his brain and his heart was leaping out of his chest at a million miles per hour, as he ran the short distance from his home to the small wooden bridge crossing the stream that ran behind his house, the stream still calmly flowing along as always, despite the panic and pandemonium going on surrounding it. Would they get there in time? It was only a short distance to the vault but who knows when the bomb will fall? What about his family and friends? Will they get to shelter in time? Do they even have a shelter to run to? 

Before he knew it he had reached the gates marking the vault areas entrance, a large crowd of desperate neighbors from here in Sanctuary Hills and some stranger faces, likely from Concord had accumulated outside. Paul saw the Vault Tec representative arguing with the soldier at the entrance gate; however in his state of mind Paul couldn’t quite focus on what exactly they were arguing about. Once the Vault Tec Representative had finally stepped aside, Paul moved forward just about managing say his, Nora’s and Shaun’s name as well as that they were on the list. The soldier hurriedly scanned the sheets of paper in his hands and then waved them through. Once that checkpoint had been cleared they were hurried to the vaults entrance podium, already full with others lucky enough to be selected. 

“Nora, I love you so much. Shaun too” he stuttered, the panic evident in his voice.

“We love you too” Nora replied.

Just as she said this, a blinding flash glowed up in the distance, Paul had to shield his eyes the light burning deep into his retinas. Then the bang, everything went quiet for a moment and then all Paul could make out was a high pitched squeal drowning out any other sound. He looked up and watched in disbelief as a mushroom cloud towered up in the distance, somewhere east of Quincy from the looks of it. Before he could take in what he was seeing the podium began to descend down into the heart of the vault, just as the first of the shockwaves started to hit overhead.

The next few minutes felt like a dream, Paul feeling the podium/ elevator descend deep into the earth before finally stopping at the inner entrance to the Vault. He could see the staff welcoming people to the vault, calling it their “new home”. Paul felt sick, he leaned over a wall gasping, trying to make sense of what had just happened. Nora rushed over, Shaun in her arms.

“Are you ok hun?” she said, her voice deep with concern.

“I don’t know, I don’t think so” he cried. “What about my parents? What about my Brother? What about YOUR parents? And Rover, he must have been alone when…when”. He could feel tears welling up in his eyes and starting to roll down his cheek; Nora crouched down beside him and embraced him with her free arm.

“Look, I’m certain our parents and your brother found somewhere” she said. “They are family of military members and your brother works with the government, I’m sure something was arranged for this situation. As for Rover, we can only hope that it was quick”.

“I…I guess” Paul sobbed. 

“The most important thing right now Paul is that we are all here and we are all safe”, she said, helping him back up to his feet.

Paul, although still feeling weak continued into the vault, collecting his new vault suit along the way, an item of clothing he thought, despite everything going on in his mind and in the world around him, looked particularly ugly. Eventually he was led into a long room with what looked like open pods on either side. As he walked past the pods Paul could feel a chill coming off them, almost like the chill that emitted by refrigerators; before he could expand his thoughts on this sensation the doctor who had guided them to this room began to talk.

“Before we take you further into the vault you must undergo decontamination” he explained, “please put your vault suits on and step into the chambers”.

After the doctor finished talking, Paul noticed for the first time that Shaun was crying. Had he been crying the entire time? He rushed over and began to help soothe his son; soon Shaun began to settle back down into Nora’s arms. Paul however couldn’t get the thought that he had neglected him when he needed Paul out of his mind.

“I should have cleared my head” he exclaimed, “I’ve been too busy in my mind and I’ve failed to help you when you needed me”.

“Paul, its fine honestly” Nora reassured him “this is a tough time for all of us, you included. Now get your vault suit on and go and get decontaminated, I’ll take Shaun”.

Paul gave Nora a brief kiss on the cheek and stroked his son’s forehead before stepping back and beginning to dress himself in his new vault attire. Paul ducked behind a decontamination chamber in order to dress himself and stay out of sight while doing so, the only remaining item of his clothes being his underwear underneath the suit. The material was soft and stretchy, almost like nylon and was very comfortable and form fitting on the skin and body. If it wasn’t so bright and blue and yellow and ugly he might have considered wearing it as a regular item of clothing Paul thought. 

After handing his clothes to the doctor he began to step towards the decontamination chamber, before he did so he looked around the room, pretty much everyone had stepped into their chambers ready to be decontaminated and he saw at Nora and Shaun opposite him who were just stepping into theirs. With a deep breath he stepped up into his chamber and sat down on the small chair-like feature inside. As the chamber door descended in front of him Paul could have sworn that this is what sitting in a freezer must feel like, before he could begin to think more deeply on this matter however Paul began to feel sleepy, like he was fading; surely this wasn’t right. He then heard on the overhead speaker.

“Cryostasis initiating in 3”.

Paul almost began to feel panicked by this revelation; however fading sensation prevented him from doing anything.

“2”.

Paul couldn’t move, could barely think, couldn’t do anything to stop this from happening, he looked over towards Nora and Shaun’s chamber; she looked frozen in place, almost like a mannequin.

“1”.

He was nearly gone, he was about to drift into a sleep he didn’t know when he’s wake up from, was it too late to pray that this would stop?

“0, Cryostasis procedure complete”.

Paul slept.


	2. 200 Years Later

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Paul's life falls apart in front of his eyes at the hands of a mysterious group of strangers; and he is thrown into a new yet familiar world as he wakes from his long sleep and is forced to return to the surface 200 years after going underground.  
> Paul must reckon with the events of the vault and try to find a way to move forward, for his own sake, for his sons sake, and as we will come to see for the entire Commonwealths sake.

As Paul began to wake he initially was unable to recall where he was or what had happened, however the sound of voices in the distance dragged him from his rest and made the memories of what had happened come flooding back. He started to bang on the front of his chamber, ignoring its icy cold surface. He looked over at Nora and Shaun in the chamber opposite him. Nora looked groggy; generally how she was after sleeping, as for Shaun, Paul couldn’t make out or hear whether or not his son was crying. He then saw, walking up between the rows of pods, three figures. For two of these figures almost their entire figures were covered by what looked to be some kind of hazmat suit, for the third however his features were very clear, a largely bald man wearing a leather jacket.

“This one, over here” one of the hazmat wearing figures said, pointing in the direction of Nora and Shaun’s Chamber.

Paul was confused, why were they heading for just their pod? They must be from Vault-Tec, but why weren’t they opening all the pods? He started to pound on the front of his chamber with a greater ferocity.

“Hey! What do you want with them? Open this pod!”

The figures however ignored this, or at least didn’t notice. They then began the process to open up Nora and Shaun’s chamber. Paul could hear the metal of the pod creaking as the heavy door lifted, cloudy wisps of ice cold air gushing out as it did so.

“Wha- what’s happening?” Paul heard his wife stutter out, the cold making her teeth chatter.

“It’s ok, you’re safe now” The bald man said, one of the figures in the hazmat suit reaching out to take Shaun out of Nora’s arms.

Paul tried to draw attention to himself, to draw the attention of his wife. He flailed his arms around his chamber, making as much noise and movement as he could muster. It wasn’t working however, the three strangers where all ignoring him whilst Nora looked so spaced out that she was unlikely to be noticing much outside of her immediate vicinity.

“No, It’s alright, I’ve got him” she said as one of the figures tried to prise Shaun from her arms, her tone becoming more forceful as the sentence continued.

“Let the boy go” the bald figure threatened, suddenly pulling a gun from a holster on his belt.

“I’LL NEVER GIVE YOU SHAUN!” Nora’s voice echoed throughout the halls of the vault, even Paul, sealed in his chamber could tell as much.

Paul’s mind began to race, be began to bang on the chamber door, screaming at the top of his lungs for the stranger to put the gun down and to leave Nora and Shaun alone. And in all the commotion he was making, he finally managed to draw the attention of his wife, her gaze rising to meet his own among her struggles with the strange figures. Her eyes looked wild and full with adrenaline, yet at the same time still full with the warm and fiery love her eyes usually exhibited.

No sooner had her gaze met Paul’s than the echo of a gunshot reverberated around the vault. In that moment everything went into slow motion for Paul. He saw Nora’s eyes begin to dull, their spark flickering out for good. She began to fall back into her chamber making a dull thud sound as her body hit the seat. As this happened Paul let out a scream unlike almost any that had come before. As he screamed he felt every fiber of his being, every atom making up his body screaming too at the same time, his mind and body unable to fully process what was happening in front of his eyes. A flash flood of tears began to well around his eyes and course down his cheeks. He found himself scarcely able to breathe, each breath taken being harsh and short yet seeming to last a lifetime.

He then looked over one of the hazmat figures settling Shaun in their arms. Shaun had also begun to cry, Paul couldn’t make out when this had started probably during either the struggle or the gunshot. The hazmat figure was rocking him in their arms, comforting him. Paul wanted to scream out, to them to tell them to get their murderous hands off of his son, but he couldn’t. He could just watch with tear stained eyes as the Hazmat figure and with them Shaun began to make their way down the corridor and out of sight.

As the door to Nora’s chamber began to close once again, the bald figure walked up to Paul’s own chamber, he let out a small chuckle as he saw Paul’s distraught face staring back at him.

“At least we still have the backup” he growled, before wandering down the corridor and out of sight.

Among Paul’s grief, he felt anger strike him like a lightning bolt.

“COME BACK HERE!” he screamed. “COME BACK NOW! I’M GOING TO FUCKING KILL YOU, YOU EVIL, MURDERING PIECE OF SHIT!” His screams went ignored.

He then heard the familiar loudspeaker overhead.

“Cryostasis initiating in 3.”

“NO! YOU ARE NOT DOING THIS, NO!” Paul screamed out, knowing full well that there was nothing he could do.

“2.”

Paul began to sob once again, ice cold tears rolling down his cheeks and the sense of tiredness returning to him.

“1.”

Paul, leaned back into the seat in his chamber, feeling hopeless having watched his wife shot, his son stolen and now unable to stop the Cryostasis process once again as he felt himself drift into sleep.

“0, Cryostasis procedure complete.”

Paul slept.

* * *

The alarms were what began to wake Paul as the memories, still fresh to Paul returned to the forefront of his mind. He began to bang on the chamber doors with as much force as he could muster, as he did this the door to his chamber finally began to rise. As Paul tried to lift himself out his legs gave way and he fell forward onto the vault floor. As he tried to pull himself up he saw Nora’s chamber towering over him, if only he could get to it, open the chamber. Maybe she was still alive? Maybe she was just badly injured? She couldn’t be dead, not Nora, Nora had to alive just as she always had been, she couldn’t be dead.

When Paul’s legs finally regained enough strength for him to stand, he launched himself upon Nora’s pod, furiously pounding on the door, looking in to see his wife’s lifeless figure slouched inside.

“OPEN UP!” he screamed.

“FUCKING OPEN NOW! **OPEN**!!! ”.

Finally Paul noticed the control panel to the right of the chamber. He slammed his hand over the release lever and the door to Nora’s pod began to rise at last. As it did, Paul threw himself on his ice cold wife, his fingers racing across her body looking for some kind of pulse, something he could use to show that Nora still held on to life. The search was futile however and as tears began to flood down his cheeks once again Paul gripped Nora in a tight hug, ignoring the cold entirely, and letting out a guttural wail the echoes of which filled the deathly silent halls of the vault. His world and everyone in it had fallen apart in what seemed like the blink of an eye, his wife was dead, his son was taken, his home and family destroyed. In that moment Paul couldn’t even think of what would come next, surely there couldn’t be a next, everything driving a next forward was gone, there was only a now and there could only ever be a now.

After what seemed like forever Paul finally managed to prise himself from Nora. He knew that in the next 24 hours he would have to bury his wife, a concept that until now had never come into even the darkest recesses of his mind. As he stood still staring at her he began to think of Shaun, where was he? Was he even still alive? No matter the likelihood of the possibility that his son was indeed dead Paul grabbed onto it, it was the only thing he could see that would keep him going, the only vestige of his life he knew wasn’t dead for certain. Paul knew in that moment that he would have to leave the vault, to face whatever world was waiting for him outside, if the kidnappers and potentially Shaun could survive out there he could survive, he had to survive.

* * *

Paul at last stood at the vault door, ready to plug the pip boy he had found on the skeleton by the control panel to the door. As he stood there he thought back on to what he had just experienced. Everyone else in the vault was dead, either by asphyxiation for those in the pods or seemingly the result of a mutiny in the case of the staff. Except for maybe Shaun Paul was the sole survivor of this place, the only one who could tell of what had happened here. As well as that, the roaches, roaches 10 times their normal size, would it be the same on the outside? Would other creatures have mutated into some new dangerous monstrosity? He had managed to kill and ward off the roaches in the vault, despite being rusty in his shooting skills after so long, however the thought of what may have happened to larger animals worried him. A part of him felt scared, no terrified of what he was going to encounter out there, yet another part, a part stemming from his old army days was even more determined by that thought. As these thoughts and feelings raced through his mind and body he finally felt the surge of courage he needed to initiate the door opening sequence.

Alarms began to blare as the screeching of metal scraping against metal filled Paul’s ears as the heavy door began to open. Light flooded the entrance hall to the vault blinding Paul for a moment, when his eyes finally adjusted to the new light Paul looked out at the elevator that would take him to the surface. With equal parts fear, grief and determination Paul stepped forward and down towards the elevator platform. As the elevator began to rise Paul saw the Vault disappear underneath him, with a nervous sigh he looked up as the first cracks of daylight came into his view.

“Here we go”

* * *

For the second time that day light burned into Paul’s retinas, blinding him for longer stretches of time than he was used to. As his eyes adjusted Paul managed to get his first look at the new landscape, the new world that lay before, under and all around him. Everything was dead, the trees which should be full of color, life and vibrancy were dead, every single one of them for as far as the eye could see in all directions. The military station situated around the vault was abandoned the lonely things inhabiting it being the skeletons of those caught up in the blast. Sanctuary Hills, Paul’s home lay in ruins at the bottom of the hill, the Old North Bridge seeming to have partially collapsed.

Paul didn’t know what to think, how to take in what he was seeing. Almost in a daze he wandered down towards the path leading to his home, unable to take in the full enormity of what he was witnessing, the large pile of cloth and bones at the outer perimeter of the vault area, the dirty, stagnant water pooling on the banks of the stream behind Sanctuary Hills, nor the gutted out and wrecked houses on either side of him as he walked up the street. He was unable to think much, all he knew was that he had to go home, that if he went home things would begin to get better, or at least he hoped so.

Finally Paul reached the front lawn of his former home. He didn’t initially notice but suddenly a familiar voice reached his ears.

“Sir! You’re alive! I never…”

Paul looked up and saw a dented and partially rusted, yet still operational Mr. Handy hovering in front of him. Paul was confused, why was it talking to him, and then he realized that the Mr. Handy in front of him was Codsworth, his robot butler.

“Codsworth? You’re still alive? How?” Paul said his voice thick with shock.

“I do not know sir. All I know is that you left, the bombs fell and I was left here alone” Codsworth replied.

“But you’re here now, and maybe there’ll be more to come yet eh”. The tone of Codsworth voice was one of pure joy, Paul was sure that if Codsworth had the ability to cry pools of joyful tears would be accumulating underneath him.

“There’ll be no more comi...” Paul began to say before Codsworth cut him off.

“Speaking of the others, where abouts are Miss Nora and young Shaun?”

Paul looked at Codsworth the memories of what had happened in the vault playing on loop in his mind, the sound of the gunshot and Shaun’s cries still ringing in his eardrums.

“That’s what I was about to say, everyone is dead, Nora is dead. THEY killed her…” Paul lost the ability to speak as anger and grief welled up inside him, it was taking all of his willpower just to stay calm.

He then started to feel sick and ran over to the side of his house, being able to rest himself on the wall just as he began to throw up.

As Paul was throwing up he could here Codsworth in the background quietly repeating the same phrase over and over, hovering up and down the driveway in a manner similar to pacing;

“Oh dear, oh no. Oh dear, oh no…”

This continued for a little while, Paul having eventually fallen to his knees, before Paul was able to pull himself together and stagger back towards Codsworth.

“I..I’m sorry about that” Paul murmured quietly, avoiding eye contact with his robot.

“It’s ok sir” Codsworth said “I’m sorry to ask, but if Miss Nora is…gone, does that mean young master Shaun suffered a similar fate?”

As Codsworth said this Paul looked him straight in the eye;

“No, he was kidnapped, by the same people who killed Nora. Did you see anybody? They were wearing hazmat suits and one was bald and wearing a leather jacket, a scar across his eye”

The seriousness of Paul’s question and tone seemed to take Codsworth aback for a moment;

“I’m afraid not sir, nobody matching that description in my memory banks.”

“Fuck” Paul whispered under his breath.

“They may still be around however” Codsworth said in a more cheerful tone “let’s check the houses and see what we can find.”

Codsworth had already begun to hover off before Paul had any chance to object to this plan and so resigned himself to searching the houses of sanctuary for any sign of Shaun.

* * *

The house search had proved fruitless, and despite Paul not having really expected to find any evidence, let alone his son and his kidnappers yet he still found himself sat on an old dining chair, slouched over a table trying his hardest not to burst into tears once again. All they had managed to find were more mutated animals, this time flies.

As he sat there, Codsworth hovered over to him stopping right beside him.

“You will find him sir, I know it. You may find more success in Concord”. Codsworth said, obviously trying to put on his best comforting voice.

Paul’s ears pricked up at this.

“There are people in Concord?” he said.

“Yes sir, although I must warn you they are not the friendliest sort, certainly not Sanctuary Hills material.”

“I’m sure I’ll manage” Paul replied, his sights now firmly fixed on getting to Concord.

“First however sir how about something to eat? You must be hungry after two centuries in that vault.”

This revelation hit Paul like a ton of bricks, for a moment he was unable to say anything, simply staring at Codsworth, his mouth agape. Finally he was able to stumble out some words;

“200 years? That impossible, that’s just not possible, you have to be lying.”

“I’m afraid not sir, the current year is 2287, you have been in that vault for exactly 210 years. You could say that you are 210 years late for dinner haha.”

Paul sat there silent for about 10 minutes, staring into space and trying to digest this newest wave of information to have hit him. All he could think of was whether Shaun was still alive, or had he been taken decades or centuries before now and was now long dead. He had to hold onto the hope that the events back in the vault were only recent, for his own sake as much as Shaun’s but the idea would not leave his mind. Finally Paul managed to largely clear his head and begin to think of what must come next.

“Codsworth, I need your help collecting something from the vault.”

* * *

It had taken most of the afternoon but finally Paul and Codsworth had managed to collect, assemble and dig everything needed. Nora’s body lay in a small makeshift wooden casket that they had managed to build from remains found in other houses. He had also dug a grave in the backyard to the house she loved so much, it wasn’t as deep as a normal burial would be but it was deep enough to serve its purpose. Codsworth had managed to find an appropriate stone slab and had carved a headstone for her; the stone lay at the head of the grave.

“Nora… was the best wife and the best friend a person could ask for.” Paul choked out, tears already staining his eyes.

“She loved and understood me despite my flaws, despite how damn difficult I could be. She made me a better man than I could ever have dreamed of being. She built me up when I was at my lowest and she always knew what to say to cheer me up or calm me down. Her smile made my heart leap every time I saw it. She gave me my son, my beautiful son; and she made my life heaven every single day I knew her from the day we met in sophomore year of high school to now. You were taken far, FAR too early. I’m going to make sure I live each day for the both of us, I will live twice as large a life as you still live on with me and nothing will change that, and I promise you that I will find Shaun no matter what it takes, no matter how far I may have to go…”

Paul couldn’t continue. He fell to his knees sobbing uncontrollably. Solemnly Codsworth began to recite a few words of his own in Nora’s memory although Paul was not listening too closely to them. As he kneeled there he felt rain begin to pour over him. Paul had never been much of a spiritual person but in that moment, as implausible as it sounded he believed the universe was mourning with him, and that it shared his grief. He looked up and for the first time in his life prayed, praying for his son’s safety and immanent reunion.

After Codsworth had finished his tribute he approached Paul with something gripped in his claw.

“Sir, before we give her to the ground I thought I should give you this, it was meant to be a surprise for Halloween.” Codsworth voice was almost tearful as he said this, expressing all the emotion that lacked from the robots outward appearance.

“Thank you Codsworth.” Paul said quietly, kneeling down in front of the grave and inserting the tape into his pip boy.

As Nora’s voice crackled from the pip boys speaker Paul felt as if he could cry once again only to find that he had no more to give. For the next few minutes he knelt silently at the foot of Nora’s grave, savoring the only surviving recording of Nora’s voice in the whole world, one of the only remnants of his old world that remained. After the recording finished he took the tape out and clutched it against his chest, silently vowing to himself never to lose it.

As Paul and Codsworth began to shovel the now soggy soil over Nora’s casket Paul couldn’t stop thinking about what he had to do, what had to come next, to find his son and to avenge his wife. He was going to catch whoever did this, he was going to tear them limb from limb, he was going to find Shaun and he was going to destroy anyone who would try to get in his way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! and I hope you enjoyed chapter 2, things will start to pick up nexty chapter as Paul heads out into the commonwealth.  
> Also, any feedback is welcome!


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